Windowing-machine



J. SHIPLEY. GRAIN SEPARATOR.

N0.18,867. Patented Dec. 15, 1857.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN SHIPLEY, OF PRINCETON, IVISCONSIN.

WINNOWING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JoI-IN SHIPLEY, of Princeton, in the county of Marquette and State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Grain-Separators; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, making a part of this specification, said drawing being a transverse vertical section of my improvement, the plane of section being through the screens or sieves.

My invention consists in combining with the shoe a number of bent pivoted levers, in such a manner that as the shoe vibrates or reciprocates from side to side, the outer ends of the levers will be brought in contact with the sides or fixed portions of the machine, which action will cause the inner ends of the levers to be thrown violently upward against the bottoms of the screens, thus producing a sudden jarring of the screens in an upward direction. By this upward jarring of the screens the grain is more perfectly cleaned, waste is prevented, less power is consumed, time is gained, the screens are prevented from clogging, and other important results attained, as will shortly appear.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents the casing of the separator, and B is the shoe which is suspended within the casing and has the necessary shake motion given it in the usual manner, viz: by means of a crank pulley, a, and pitman, b.

C, D, are two screens placed within the shoe as usual. Each of these screens has two rods 0, 0, attached to it longitudinally, the ends of the rods being secured to the end pieces or rails of the screens, and the rods bearing against the under sides of the screens, as shown in the drawing.

' To each side of the shoe B, there are pivoted two bent levers E, the horizontal portions of the levers being within the shoe and the other portions on the outer side of it. Two of the levers are placed below the upper screen, .6, and the other two below the lower screen D. The ends of the horizontal portions of the levers have projections d, upon them, which projections are directly underneath the rods 0.

From the above description, it will be seen that when the shoe, '3, is vibrated the 18,867, dated December 15, 1857.

outer parts of the levers will strike against the inner sides of the casing A, and the proj ections (Z, will be forced up against the rods 0, producing the necessary jars or concussions, the levers at each side of the shoe being actuated alternately.

By this means the screens are prevented from being choked or clogged as the grain, chaff, etc., in passing over them is thrown up and subjected to the action of the blast generated by the fan, so that the grain can pass quickly through the screens and the light foreign substances be blown off.

I do not confine myself to the precise form of the levers E, for they may be modified or varied as occasion requires.

I am aware that various devices have been invented for jarring the screens of grain separators and winnowers; but I do not claim any of such devices. I confine myself substantially to the arrangement herein shown.

In order to obtain a perfect separation of the impurities from the grain two things are indispensable :1st. The screens must be kept perfectly free so that the blast of air can readily pass up through the meshes. 2d. The screens must be so jarred that the substances to be purified will at frequent i11- tervals be thrown upward entirely clear from the screens, and scattered, so that the air rushing up through the screens will have an opportunity to act on the individual particles of the mass.

In the rejected application of Miles Moore the screens are shaken by means of rollers over which they pass. In this device the same difiiculty occurs that is seen in VVatkins, viz: The straw and chaff are pressed into the meshes of the screens, and they can not be kept clear. None of these objections are seen in my arrangement, for the upward knocks or upward jarring of the screens, occasioned by the contact of the inner ends of levers E against the screens, causes the straw to be continually loosened from the surface of the screens, so that the meshes are always kept clear. The said upward jarring also keeps the whole mass in an almost constant moving state or upward dancing, so that the blast of air, having a free passage through the screens, acts on the straw, chaff and grain with the greatest efi'ect.

Some of the results obtained are these: 1. The screens, being kept thoroughly clean, less screen surface is required than in other machines. 2. The air having a free passage through the screens and the substances being kept in an upward dancing state, the separation of the impurities is more thoroughly and perfectly done, and only a moderate air blast is needed. 3. Less power is therefore required to drive the fan, and also less to drive the screens, owing to their smaller size. 4. In most separators a strong blast of air is required, as before mentioned, and the result is that much valuable grain is lost by being blown away with the chaff and dirt. But in my machine as only a gentle blast of air is required none of the grain is lost.

herein described.

JOHN SHIPLEY. Witnesses:

A. B. CLARK, J. W. SEYMOUR. 

